From Zhu Zhongzhou, a 63-year-old man in Henan Province who killed himself by jumping from the town hall several weeks ago to protest forced demolition, to Qu, from the Shifang protests to the Qidong protests, China has been seeing suicide and violence in defense of people's rights.

The public can't even make clear the truth of one case before they are overwhelmed by reports and discussions on another. The pubic attention on these cases seems to reveal that in today's society, people can only put pressure on relevant authorities through violent ways, because the price paid in life and blood could mobilize the media and the public to press the authorities.

Qu wrote about his sufferings on the Internet, which demonstrate that he had tried to solve his problems through normal means such as petitions. He consulted lawyers, called some local media and wrote blog articles, hoping get some help, at least some attention. But he failed. He didn't get the chance of a media interview. No lawyers provided legal assistance to him. There was no online sympathy or official attention. He has become a target of public attention after the explosion, but this is meaningless to Qu now.

The opinions on Qu's case are diverse. Most of them are sympathetic to Qu, while taking the chance to vent their anger and dissatisfaction against the government. Nobody pays attention to those injured officials. It seems they are responsible for Qu's death and deserve such punishment. But they might just be innocent bystanders.

Once there is negative social news, the public tends to blame the government and target some officials they think might be corrupt, while the government is always hasty to shift the blame and seems reluctant to fix the system. Without discussion and negotiation, no valuable consensus can be reached and conflicts are rarely solved.

It shames the society and government that in a modern civilized society, people like Qu choose the most primitive way to solve problems.

To avoid similar cases in the future, the government should reflect on the reform of institutions and set up a platform for rational dialogue, and the public should also learn to be rational. Otherwise, conflicts between government and the public will only grow. 

The author is a lawyer based in Shanghai. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn